Navigating career changes
Image about choosing a dead end or a career change
When are you confronted with career change?
After realizing that your job is not as satisfying as you had expected. The salary might be great and the only reason why you continue doing a job you do not really enjoy.
After experiencing poor performance in your role. It’s sometimes hard to find out the real reasons behind poor performance. What we usually tend to do is blame the manager or the organization we work for. When in reality you are just not where you want/need to be.
When you choose to stay in your comfort zone, instead of choosing to challenge yourself.
And in some cases after you have experienced a burnout.
How do you end up with the “wrong career”?
One of the reasons is the fact that, already at an early age, we are expected to make decisions that determine our career path.
Let’s look at what happens after you finish secondary school. At the age of 17 / 18 years, you are expected to choose a higher education, and have an idea / know what your first job will be as an adult.
Not every child knows what they want to study, what they like, or what their passion is at the age of 17. I have a child who finishes secondary school this year, so we are busy looking at different studies. My son is one of the children that has not yet found his passion and does not have a clear idea of what he wants to study. As parents we are guiding and helping him to make a choice based on his strengths, skills and qualities.
Another very important reason why we find ourselves in the ‘wrong career’ is the fact that as adults we tend to make the wrong choices when applying for a job. We tend to look at a job vacancy thinking about salary, status and benefits. When instead we should we asking ourselves the following questions; Do I like this role enough to spend 40 hours a week doing it? Will I be using my strengths in this role? Will I be confronted with my weaknesses in this role? Does the organization and I share the same values, and how is their work culture? Further important questions to ask yourself before making any important job decision.
How to start your career change?
Start looking deeper into how you ended up wanting a career change. We need to look into the past in order to understand the present. Start acknowledging that a change is needed and, more importantly, go back to the drawing board of your career and fully commit yourself to execute the needed changes. This time around looking at what it is Blothat you are passionate about, at your skills, at the activities and experiences you have enjoyed the most.
As a coach I work with clients on career change. A successful career change is possible, in fact we see more and more that working for only one company during once lifetime, is no longer the norm. Most people will have at least three different careers during their working life and many of the skills used in one will be transferable to another. We are on the move. We do not only change companies, but we also want to be challenged and explore different roles.
Whichever role you have had before, you have used many skills you can easily transfer to other functions. We call these transferable skills.
It’s very important that you remind yourself of what your strengths are, that you are aware of what your weaknesses are, and that you work on your personal development looking at opportunities to improve your weak areas. Do a personal SWOT analysis, look for a job that will match your strengths.
Embrace your strengths, look for your passion and/or what you like to do. If you do something that you like, something you enjoy, you are bound to be successful. Find a new career where you will utilize your strengths to the fullest, and where you can avoid using your weaknesses.